Random Gaming Thoughts

[PartridgeSenpai]

Ninja Gaiden, yes. Forza, Doom 3, Half Life 2 are all examples of stuff the PS2 really couldn’t handle.

Some multiplatform games also run really rough on the PS2. The example I can think of most immediately because I played them recently is the Sonic games of that gen. Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog run impressively poorly on the PS2 (capped at 30 FPS but still chug in a lot of places) compared to the Xbox and Gamecube versions.

[marurun]

Ninja Gaiden, yes. Forza, Doom 3, Half Life 2 are all examples of stuff the PS2 really couldn’t handle.

Some multiplatform games also run really rough on the PS2. The example I can think of most immediately because I played them recently is the Sonic games of that gen. Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog run impressively poorly on the PS2 (capped at 30 FPS but still chug in a lot of places) compared to the Xbox and Gamecube versions.

For that generation, the Xbox was the high-power solution, the PS2 was the low-power solution, and the GameCube rested comfortably in the middle. The GameCube also benefited from being the easiest to develop for for console-centric developers. The Xbox was easier for PC-centric developers, due to sharing a core architecture and APIs. The Xbox was really a foreshadowing and proof of concept of the previous and now current console generations. The PS2 was so popular simply because DVD playback capabilities drove early adoption and Sony's reputation coming off the Playstation 2 sustained the platform. It was definitely the worst console of the generation. It was comparatively slow and used a cumbersome architecture to design for. If not for Sony's impressive dev tools it would have been a hot mess. But of course, Sony had been in the development tools space for years before even launching the PS1 (and was often the contractor that created the official dev tools for other platforms). If anyone knew how to make a hot mess of hardware accessible it was Sony. I will give the PS2 a little credit, however. Much like the Saturn, the complexity of the system meant it could, at times, create some interesting and unique special effects that other more traditional architectures couldn't easily replicate. But polygon-pushing performance was not one of those special effects, and unlike the Saturn, the system had no other clear advantage over any of its competitors save DVD playback, something that affordable DVD players largely mooted by the time the other consoles released.

This makes for a fascinating study in the advancement of 3D, however. The PS1 came out in 1994 and did 3D, but it lacked a lot of 3D features like perspective correction, Z buffering, and sub-pixel rendering (due to lacking floating point math, resulting in jumping and twitching polygons). Just 2 years later the N64 came out and had all those things, but fell short in texture memory and wasn't a big leap in actual triangle counts (if it was a leap in that department at all) due to spending hardware on those new features. The Dreamcast came out 2 years later and was what we might consider the first truly modern 3D console, in that it had everything: fast Z-buffer, tiled rendering (for a great fill rate if not too many effects), excellent texture support, great RAM allocations for the time, independent audio engine, very easy to develop for. The PS2 came out 2 years later and added DVD media support and did some experimental stuff with low VRAM paired with fast system RAM (leading to poor texturing capabilities and fill rate), excellent triangle counts even with lots of lighting and effects turned up, rudimentary proto-shader capabilities, and strong dev tools that were ALMOST enough to offset the bizarre architecture (meaning lower-tier studios could still tap into at least a portion of the power the system had on tap without pulling their hair out). A mere year later the GameCube and Xbox released, the former resembling more the console 3D model of the Dreamcast (easy to develop for, lots of power that's easy to tap into, run-time shader support) and the latter resembling the PC 3D standards of the time (Nvidia-style shaders [provided by Nvidia], x86 CPU, hard drive and ethernet built-in, DirectX support).

While for many games the actual graphical differences from the Dreamcast through to the Xbox may not seem huge (until you examine the very topmost elite titles), when looking at the development of 3D consoles between 1994 and 2001, just 7 years, the difference is quite nuts. By our current arbitrary definition of 10 years as what qualifies as "retro", that 7 year span represents an insane development of capabilities.

[isiolia]

While for many games the actual graphical differences from the Dreamcast through to the Xbox may not seem huge (until you examine the very topmost elite titles), when looking at the development of 3D consoles between 1994 and 2001, just 7 years, the difference is quite nuts. By our current arbitrary definition of 10 years as what qualifies as "retro", that 7 year span represents an insane development of capabilities.

I think a good bit of it may also stem from sheer sales numbers. Sony came into that gen on top, and basically grew their customer base, making the PS2 (still) the best selling console of all time. By contrast, MS and Nintendo only moved modest numbers, and MS very regionally. So it's probably fair to assume that a lot of console development was targeting the PS2 first. If most of it is scaling ports up a little, the actual power difference may not be as apparent - same sort of thing happened with a lot of PC ports during 7th gen.

Another consideration, to me, is that progressive scan/HD was far from standard. So while the PS2 was the worst off in terms of native support (and quality if using it), the vast majority of consumers wouldn't have had the TV to see the difference. I remember the X-Box being notably better when hooking it up to my first HDTV, and the Gamecube seems to have close to that level of native 480p support/etc provided you can get the cable.

[PretentiousHipster]

Don't really follow upcoming releases but Resident Evil 8 has the funniest hype I've seen in a long time.

[Ack]

Don't really follow upcoming releases but Resident Evil 8 has the funniest hype I've seen in a long time.

There's already a subreddit for hentai of that tall vampire lady.

[PretentiousHipster]

I don't even follow that stuff on twitter, but most of my feed consists of cosplay of the 2 villains.

[Forlorn Drifter]

Don't really follow upcoming releases but Resident Evil 8 has the funniest hype I've seen in a long time.

There's already a subreddit for hentai of that tall vampire lady.

I’m disappointed it took that long. Cmon porn artists, y’all are slipping.

[RCBH928]

What Sony did with PS2 needs to be a business case study, being the weakest of the 3 and turning on top with the strongest library is amusing especially to think at that time graphics power was much more effective when make the decision of which console to own, the xbox also had a very solid library so it was not like its lacking in that area. I wonder what made Sony go with weaker spec, doesn't seem to be their usual strategy.

The sad area was NGC, I like the NGC and some of the game, but being the more capable than the PS2 yet still way behind. I think the mini-disc, colourful design, and the controller looks sold it more of a "kids" console. Personally I don't mind that at all and can play NGC all day long with fun games, the only caveat is disc storage size for me.
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Whats funny about RE 8? The settings and gameplay is my exact cup of tea. Is it because they think the villain is attractive? Its an old trope where the villain is attractive nothing new here. Are they dropping the Umbrella corp. and mutational viruses story elements? because of they do, it shouldn't be called RE any more. Its more like a vampire slayer game.

[prfsnl_gmr]

PS2 was first to market, and it was a huge step up, graphically, from the previous generation. It also had a lot of really stellar exclusives early in its life, and it doubled as a DVD player.

[Forlorn Drifter]

PS2 was first to market, and it was a huge step up, graphically, from the previous generation. It also had a lot of really stellar exclusives early in its life, and it doubled as a DVD player.

PS1 also had the higher sales in the previous generation due to some big exclusives moving to it (such as FFVII) which allowed for brand loyalty and momentum after the N64 not putting out the same level of exclusives.